School zones in Kogarah, Ryde and Chester Hill are some of the most dangerous in the state, with more than 5000 traffic infringements issued in each in the 12 months to June.
The worst, which is along the Princes Highway in Kogarah near Kogarah Public and Kogarah High schools, James Cook Boys High School, Moorefield Girls High School, St George Girls High School, St George Hospital School and St George School, recorded 6418 infringements in 2016-17.
This was closely followed by Ryde along Victoria Road, near Holy Cross College and St Charles Catholic Primary School, which recorded 5726 infringements in the last financial year, the latest figures from Revenue NSW show.
Other dangerous zones include Woodville Road in Chester Hill near Old Guildford Public School, which recorded 5061 infringements, and the Pacific Highway in Lindfield near Lindfield Primary School, which recorded 4480 offences.
A total of more than 143,600 fines were issued in 2016-17 in school zones with fixed cameras, generating more than $39.3 million for the state government.
Of these, 111,100 fines were for speeding offences, 28,300 were for parking infringements in school zones, 693 were for mobile phone use and 457 were for jumping a red light.
A total of 13 children between the ages of 5 and 16 were killed on NSW roads in 2016 and 863 were injured, with 267 suffering serious injuries and another 317 suffering moderate injuries, according to the NSW Centre for Road Safety.
Between December 2014 and 2017, 15 children were seriously injured in active school zones, which reduce the speed limit near schools to 40km/h from 8am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 4pm.
There are more than 3000 government, independent and Catholic schools in NSW, and every school has at least one school zone.
However, fixed speed and red-light speed cameras are only located in 50 of these, representing about 1.75 per cent of all school zones.
Chief executive of the Pedestrian Council of Australia Harold Scruby said the limited number of cameras in place are "jeopardising the lives of children".
"What's happening in Kogarah is what's happening in the rest of the state," Mr Scruby said.
"Wherever there's a camera, there are three warnings, so you start to see how people behave when they know there's a camera. It's even worse when there's no camera."
Mr Scruby called on the state government to deliver on its 2006 promise to introduce mobile speed cameras that would be rotated between school zones.
"What's happening in Kogarah is what's happening in the rest of the state."
- Chief executive of the Pedestrian Council of Australia Harold Scruby
NSW Centre for Road Safety executive director Bernard Carlon said that speed cameras are located "based on crash history, and not specifically to target school zones".
"Mobile speed cameras are not currently used in school zones as there are higher priority locations for enforcement to address speeding across the road network at these times," Mr Carlon said.
"School zones have been a resounding success ... crash injuries have declined dramatically and no child has died in an operating school zone for the past four years."
The latest data reveals that August is consistently one of the worst months for traffic infringements in school zones, with 17,300 offences in August this year, compared to 15,900 in March, the next worst month.
The most offences were also recorded in August in 2016 and 2015, which Mr Scruby said could be linked to factors such as when cameras are actually operating and the possibility that more offences are occurring immediately after school holidays.
The story, The most dangerous school zones in NSW named, first appeared on the Sydney Morning Herald.
